Shades State Park 9.27.2009

After a delightful evening at the furnished apartment, we made a breakfast stop at the White Horse Cafe. It seemed to be the place all the locals go on weekend mornings, and it was good. We each had cups and cups of coffee, eggs, hashbrowns, bicuits and gravy, and ham. This we got for around $18.

We then headed up Marshall Rd., through the town of Marshall (where's the arch?) and to Shades State Park. We outfitted the dogs with their backpacks and started on our first hike of the day. We found Shades to be a smaller, more basic park, without the amenities of TurkeyRun. There is no inn, nature center, or pool. However, the trails were perhaps even better and there was hardly anyone there! With the dogs, we navigated trails 1, 6, 2, and a bit of 9. Highlights included Devil's Punch Bowl, Lover's Leap, and the entirety of trail 2. It was the best trail we hiked all weekend by far! A word of advice for trail 2: it is somewhat poorly marked as it seems to be a new addition. Start 2 at the Dell Shelter and when it splits, stay left and head down the giant stairs. Go out to Sugar Creek and see Steamboat Rock. Then, you will be standing in a small stream or ravine. Even though there is no sign, this is actually part of trail 2, so go on. This was a very rugged hike and may be impassable if it's been raining a lot, but it was totally worth it for the views of Maidenhair Falls and Pearl Canyon.

We then dropped the dogs off at the trailer (Thanks again Noah and Holly!) and hit trails 4 and 5. These trails featured ladders and some rugged parts, but were no #2. Dogs should not go on these trails due to the ladders.

Shades used to be called Shades of Death because of its history of bloody Indian wars and also because of the crazy shadows created by all the rocks and trees. We really enjoyed it, perhaps even more so than its more popular neighbor Turkey Run due to smaller crowds and cooler trails.

Shades State Park

Route 1 Box 72

Waveland, IN 7989

765.435.2810

White Horse Cafe

287 S. US Hwy 41

Rockville, IN 47872

765.569.9450

Turkey Run 9.26.2009

Turkey Run is located off IN 47 near Rockville. We took the long way to get there. We now recommend going 47 out of Crawfordsville. Don't go on 74.

Turkey Run seems to be among the busiest of the state parks, so it might be best to go on a weekday if possible or early in the day on a weekend. When we got there, it was packed, so instead of heading across the awesome suspension bridge, we stayed on the same side of the creek and hit trail 1 all the way to the covered bridge where we did cross. We then went on trails 8 and 4 and checked out the Lusk Home. We also saw the coal mine. The dogs did great on these trails and could be off the leash because there weren't many people. We also got to go down to the creek and see it.

We crossed back over on the suspension bridge and dropped the dogs off at the trailer. (Thanks Noah and Holly!) Then, we went back across to do the awesome trails 3, 5, and 9. Highlights included the always-fun ladders on 3 and Boulder Canyon on 9. Dogs should not be taken on 3 due to the ladders, but it is among the best in the park.

We also visited the Turkey Run Inn, but did not get to stay the night. If you go, be sure to ask for the manager, Donald Vita, and tell him we said hi. We ate dinner at the Narrows Restaurant at the inn and it was delicious after a long day of hiking! We got the buffet, which is $12.95 on the weekends, and it was worth it. The bests for us were BBQ porkchops, fried biscuits and warm apple butter, sweet tea, and fried chicken. Yum.

So, we were tired and stuffed, and there was no room at the inn. We made a quick stop in the giftshop and picked up some patches and a Weird Indiana book. Then, we asked the friendly gal at the inn desk for some recommendations of where else we could stay. She offered two names and phone numbers of places in nearby Rockville. On the way out of the park, once we regained cell signal, we placed a call to the Covered Bridge Motel and talked to the owner, Phil Kurtz. He didn't have a room available but did offer us a furnished apartment for the price of $50. So, we headed on over to the Covered Bridge and picked up the key. Phil even gave us a free six-pack of Miller Lite he had in the fridge. What a guy! The apartment was a couple miles out of town and we found it to be clean, nicely appointed, and equipped with satellite TV on which we watched the Purdue - Notre Dame game. Tough loss for the Boilers, though the last-minute timeout was a ridiculous call. If you stay at these apartments, perhaps bring your own towels, as they were a bit small, especially for a 6'4" kinda kid.

Turkey Run State Park

8121 E. Park Rd.

Marshall, IN 47859

765.597.2635

Covered Bridge Motel

346 S. US Hwy 41

Rockville, IN 47872

765.569.2833

Introduction to our idea

So, we really like hiking and camping and outdoor things of all kinds. And we were looking at the Indiana State Parks website the other day http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/ and we decided that we would do a tour of them all. Being money-conscious (cheap) as we are, it seemed like a good idea to buy the $36 annual pass and try to get it done in a year. But, the passes go Jan. - Dec. and we got all excited and decided to start now anyway. So, we will be visiting all 26? state parks in the next 14 months.

A little about us: We are Jesse and Abby, both 30 years old, a home remodeler and a teacher. We have two dogs, Cash and Cooper, who will be going on most of the trips with us. We live on the White River on the north side of Indianapolis.

We will be trying to provide honest and useful information about the State Parks that we visit. We will try to give info about the trails, inns, restaurants, and other ammenities. We will also probably throw in some info about various other places we visit along the way, even if they're not technically inside the parks.

This past weekend, Sept. 26 and 27, we visited Turkey Run and Shades State Parks. More to come on these trips.